Round 2 of the TOUR Championship concluded earlier on Friday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia and Billy Horschel still remains in the lead. The 27-year-old carded another 66 and moved to 8-under for the tournament, just ahead of Rory McIlroy.
Horschel is in second place of the FedEx Cup standings and if he can hold on the next two rounds he'll be the 2014 champion. The TOUR Championship is the final playoff event of the season and typically decides the top golfer of the PGA season. The winner of the TOUR Championship receives $1.44 million and the golfer atop the FedEx Cup standings receives a $10 million bonus. Chris Kirk is currently in the lead, but that could change if Horschel or McIlroy win this tournament (among others).
McIlroy carded a 65 on Friday, which was the best score of the day, bringing him to 6-under for the event and tied for second place with Jason Day and Chris Kirk. Day fired a 67 and Kirk finished with a 68, both improving their scores from the previous day. Justin Rose and Kevin Na were also 4-under on the day and drastically improved their positioning in the standings. Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed and Zach Johnson all dropped further down after each finishing with 74s.
But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the afternoon was when McIlroy hit his tee shot on the 14th hole and it ended up in a spectator's pocket. The ball ricocheted off of a tree and landed in a man's pants pocket, and McIlroy was awarded a free drop under Rule 19-1a (a ball in motion that is accidentally deflected or stopped by an outside agency). After his drop, he was 145 yards out and finished the hole with a par.
"It's not the first time [it happened] this year, either,'' McIlroy said, in this ESPN article. "I just had a ball go up someone's trouser at the Scottish Open in Aberdeen. I just need to stop hitting it off line and these things won't happen. I got a lucky break there. That ball could have went anywhere off that tree, and I was able to hit it on the green and make par there and keep the momentum going.''
Other notable names who are still in contention include Jim Furyk (-4), Rickie Fowler (-3), and Russell Henley (-2). Sergio Garcia (E), Jordan Spieth (+1), Adam Scott (+1), Jimmy Walker (+2) and Martin Kaymer (+2) have a lot of ground to gain.
Check out the leaderboard here.
